GET SHORTY! I like short-handed poker games for a lot of reasons, all of them basically boiling down to greed. You simply have to adjust your game to suit. Logic dictates when you have fewer people (usually four or five max in a short-handed game) there are less chances of a single player having a premium hand. How does it change your approach? Well, you might for example fold a Queen-King in the small blind and perhaps raise with it in early position in a full ten player game. In a short-handed game the temptation might be to re-raise in the early position.
IMPORTANT SIMPLE STAT Here’s an interesting and easy to remember fact about short-handed no-limit games. Any player who doesn’t have a pair of hole cards will fail to make a pair at the flop two times out of three! In short-handed games a lot of players will raise when they have very little to recommend their hole cards. The flop usually fails to recommend them anymore highly. You’ll particularly note that whoever is in the big blind in a short-handed game will tend to try and defend the painful outlay even if they’re holding cards with a face value less than the IQ of a brick. Watch for this and see if it pans out in your experience.
EASTENDER IN VEGAS Michael Greco is best known as one of EastEnder’s coolest actors and he’s been putting his acting skills to good use in his recently acquired poker career. Although a famous face in the UK, Michael has discovered that when playing in America, he’s able to use his well honed “facials” to send out “tells” that are usually mis-read by Vegas opponents. This gives him an immediate edge. Apparently, Greco has made a bit of an art out of managing to look totally disinterested when he has a premium hand. None of this works when he’s playing fellow UK Celebrities like Teddy Sheringham, Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry who instantly know he’s “at it”. Interestingly, Michael describes Hendry as a superb player, very competitive, and a double-barrelled, poker and snooker talent.
IN THE TOP 50 Greco relates very well to the famous poker maxim that; “You can learn it in a week and maybe master it in a lifetime”. “It’s the continuous learning process that makes it such an enthralling game.” Michael is obviously learning very fast. Currently I note he’s rated as one of the Top 50 players in Europe. Maybe it’ll all turn out to be a career-combining case of EastEnders to Oceans 13
